Political schizophrenia

THE MANY FACES OF JOHN KERRY:

WHY THIS MASSACHUSETTS LIBERAL IS WRONG FOR AMERICA

David N. Bossie

WND Books, $21.99, 288 pages

It is still the dog days of summer, but already the quadrennial political wars are heating up, what with, among other things, Michael Moore’s filmed hatchet job on President George W. Bush, “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

But Republicans are not sitting idly by while Democrats take potshots at the president; they have their own hatchet men at work. One of them, David N. Bossie, has turned out “The Many Faces of John Kerry: Why This Massachusetts Liberal Is Wrong for America,” a book that is not exactly a paean of praise for the Democratic presidential candidate. Indeed, Mr. Bossie has written 240 pages about John Kerry with hardly a kind word anywhere among them.

Mr. Bossie, the controversial conservative who heads up Citizens United, a grass-roots lobbying organization, has made a career of digging up dirt on high-level Democrats, which is not to say the dirt isn’t there to dig up. He is also the author of “Intelligence Failure: How Clinton’s National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11” and the co-author of two other political books, one highly critical of presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992 and the other equally critical of presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

Mr. Bossie clearly has little use for Democratic presidents or presidential candidates, including the latest one.

All of this is not to say that “The Many Faces of John Kerry” is without merit. It appears to be thoroughly documented, to the point where one wonders if the author received research help from the Republican National Committee or President Bush’s re-election team.

It was doubtless written in a hurry — the July publication date indicates it was written in the hope it will have an effect on the presidential campaign. Regardless, it will, among other things, be a good sourcebook for persons seeking to verify their worst fears about Mr. Kerry.

The book is divided into 14 chapters along with an afterword that issues a final warning against Mr. Kerry’s “far-left liberal ideology.”

Mr. Bossie is careful not to be critical of Mr. Kerry’s Vietnam record, although he notes, as others have done, that during his four months in Vietnam Mr. Kerry found the time to be filmed while supposedly involved in combat. The author quotes Mr. Kerry’s longtime friend, Thomas Vallely, as saying, “John was thinking of Camelot when he shot that film, absolutely.”

Camelot II, that is. Camelot I was King Arthur. Camelot II was President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Kerry’s political hero. Unlike Kennedy, however, and much more like Bill Clinton, Mr. Kerry, the author writes, set out while still a schoolboy to become president.

In words not meant to be flattering, Mr. Bossie says that Mr. Kerry is a “great politician” who can be counted on “to do the right thing for his own political interests and career” if not for the country. Mr. Bossie takes 14 chapters to prove it.

Each chapter is titled and subtitled so readers can easily find a particularly obnoxious Kerry trait or part of his record. We learn of “Kerry’s Clintonianambition,” “Kerry’s elitist background” and how he helped in “crippling the U.S. military.”

Farther along, chapter subtitles that speak for themselves include “Sucking up to lawyers, lobbyists and special interests”; “Ruining life for everyday Americans”; and “A return to Hillary’s socialized health scheme.” We learn also that Mr. Kerry is soft on crime and disdains the values of “the common man,” and that his foreign policy boils down to “Let the UN do it.”

In the text, Mr. Bossie details the numerous flip-flops for which Mr. Kerry is famous and his votes to cut intelligence and military appropriations. And if you think Mr. Kerry is not soft on crime, the author shows you otherwise by linking then-Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry (under Gov. Michael Dukakis) to the paroling of the infamous murderer and rapist Willie Horton.

And lest there be any doubt where he stands, Mr. Bossie ends some chapters by comparing Mr. Kerry with Mr. Bush, in particular contrasting Mr. Bush’s “proven record” of fighting terrorism to Mr. Kerry’s “proven record in opposing measures necessary to help the U.S. fight terrorism.”

At other times Mr. Bossie zeroes in on Mr. Kerry, concluding variously, “He’s a hypocrite,” that “[i]n a Kerry administration Americans can count on more government interference and regulation” and that “[i]f Kerry is elected Americans should hold on to their wallets.”

Finally, he concludes that because Mr. Kerry’s “far-left liberal ideology is held by a minority of Americans,” he will be rejected by the voters in November. We shall see.

Lyn Nofziger, a Washington writer, was a political adviser to President Ronald Reagan.